Season's Greetings

To all of my friends wherever in the world you are - I wish you very relaxed and happy celebrations and/or holidays. And that all your wishes for 2012 may come true!!!

For me in 2011 a few of my wishes have indeed come true - and maybe some others will in the next year.I have been lucky to have had a job all of the year and finally feeling sort of settled after moving into my own place.

Wishing you all lots of happiness!!

Anita 

Moved houses and more pictures........

After a week of living in my new place I feel already like having spent here months or so....... it definitely is one of the best things I have done in a lot of years!!!!   Very happy I made this decision.

Following are some more pictures of the house and the flowers in the garden.

I am so happy !!!!

This is mine......

Boring Blenheim?

Something that a lot of people around here are complaining about at times (including myself) is that Blenheim aka Blenhole is such a boring place to live. But is this really the case? When I look back at the last month and write this blog I do not get the idea it was a boring month at all. 

First of all am still trying to learn how to dance salsa and merengue, however, with limited success but we are having fun!

Then there were the unavoidable goodbyes and farewells again – something that will never end when living in such a transient place and something that I will never get used to either. One of the people who left the country was my best friend from Blenheim I studied with for two years and we have gone through a lot in both our lives during that time. We spent one lovely day together in Marlborough tasting wines, eating local produce and just chatting away before saying goodbye and hopefully meeting one day again somewhere else in the world.

Since I did not have my graduation celebrations I decided to invite some people for drinks in a local pub on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. This was a lovely day again – and I even received a beautiful bunch of tulips!!

And yes, sometimes you wonder where all those people hang around on a Friday evening, when town seems deserted. I figured out that problem as well when one night I was invited to join some people for a fundraising quiz night (no, they can’t have invited me for my knowledge on local trivia). There were over 200 people enjoying a nice evening and guess what – I even won a prize but that was not because of my knowledge….

Then there is the Soroptimist International organisation trying to set up a branch in Blenheim and of course, I would very much like to be part of that and joined two of their meetings where I met some lovely women that I would not have met otherwise.

The ‘icing on the cake’ of this month was a surprise party for my birthday organised by one of my best friends here (one I also studied with for two years). This party included a birthday cake with candles (really guys, there were far too many candles on that cake!), balloons, ten pin bowling, nice food/drinks but most importantly some of my closest friends in Blenheim. It was a great evening.

Blenheim boring?

Not when you read this story and therefore my motto has always been and will be “Life is What You Make It” - and it is about the people around you.

Hugs and kisses,

Anita

Moving around

After vintage there was the ‘world-famous’ Indevin Post-Vintage Boat Party – and yes, it was a great party about which I cannot say too much and some pictures had to be censured. Great party it was!! We went out on a boat to one of the Lodges in the Marlborough Sounds and had a nice BBQ lunch there. On top of that there was a Latin Party in Blenheim, a town where normally not a lot is happening. The amount of alcohol consumed was impressive and not everyone made it to the end of the night………

I

I  found a new room to rent and am now sharing a lovely, cosy old cottage with one other person and hopefully it will all work out. It is unfortunately not in town, but the cottage itself and the situation makes up for it. 

In the mean time I also have had my bicycle fixed and thus I can try to start cycling again, since that had been neglected. On top of that I started back training in the gym – if I will be disciplined enough I even might get fit. Although it is rather stay fit, since vintage is quite a physical period and some muscles have nicely developed. Apart from keeping fit at the gym I try staying fit by dancing Salsa and other Latin-American dances.

I also got my degree in the mail, since I could not attend my graduation AND go on the boat trip, which was on the same day. You need to get your priorities right, of course. 

That degree is step one, now the challenge is to land myself a permanent position which will mean I will be more settled here. If not, I need to think of a plan B that might bring me to other parts of the world. Who knows…. might come your way some time, as long as there are grapes growing in your area…….

Hugs and kisses,

Anita

Back from the dark side!

At 7pm we greeted each other ‘good morning’ and ‘have a good day’ – while at 7am we had a few beers……… you should think something was wrong? Actually no, this is life doing night shifts during vintage……

It is a strange thing those 12 hour night shifts. It is very difficult to keep track of the time and days even. You start working on Friday, finish at Saturday – and then back to work on Saturday again. Coming back home from work you switch on TV and you get the breakfast show on. However, slowly I got used to this unusual way of living and it was not bad after all. The main things I missed were a social life and a healthy amount of day/sunlight.

Now, after six weeks all the grapes are processed and one by one all those young, international vintage workers are leaving – either to go travelling or back home. This brings mixed feelings of happiness because vintage has been good again, but sadness of saying goodbyes.

Something that has been on my mind for a long time now, is moving to a place back into town and suddenly I am forced to do so due to the selling of the house I live in at the moment. So, my first free weekend has been spent searching and searching. Not easy!!

Well, please send me some positive vibes that everything will work out…….. and enjoy the pictures of my workplace made during sunrise at the end of the shift.

Hugs and kisses!!

Bring on Vintage!!!

This blog will have some news that is ‘old’ in the mean time but nevertheless I will inform you.

After one week of mainly sorting some practicalities of life in New Zealand after my trip to Holland, I luckily could start working at the company where I would go for vintage anyhow. In stead of working in the laboratory I started as a cellar hand in the winery, which is something that is closer to my line of study than the laboratory. For a little intro to this company see: www.indevin.com. The work is pretty physical and I am only doing 5 days of 8 hours, while as soon as the grapes are being harvested I will work 7 days of 12 hours, although these will be nights. This is going to be an interesting experience again. I very much enjoy the work in the cellar and guess I finally figured out my direction in the wine industry.
(anyone who has some good tips and tricks about how to survive a few weeks night shifts of 12 hours for 7 days a week - I am very keen to receive some!!)

Of course I also made a trip by car over the hill again (to Nelson) to visit some of my best friends in New Zealand. I try to make the trip regularly but it had been a while again and we spent a lot of time eating, drinking (wine) and catching up on our life experiences. And just last weekend I went there again (just in time before vintage kicks off) especially to see my friend for a poole dancing event!!!!! I am sorry not to be able to publish pictures of this event – it is all copy-righted.

The last three years living in Blenheim I never had the intention to stay here long term, but this all changed in the course of last year when I realised that settling in Blenheim on my own before going on any other adventures would be the best choice for this period in my life. So it was finally time for me to seriously finding my way around Blenheim society. Since I am a very sporty person – uhhuummmm…… the first thing I tried was getting some tennis lessons with a few of my girl friends. And yes, since a few weeks we have been trying to hit the tennis balls with the racket with some very reasonable results. I am sure we are in there for the long run, although some of us have more eyes for the men than for the balls……..

Furthermore, I have had some job interviews for permanent roles but until now without success – this is however not of huge concern to me since I am very new on this job market and getting interviews is always a good start. At the moment I am happy with the vintage job I have and will see where that leads me.

A lot of time I have also spent with friends over dinner and drinks. Although I sometimes feel alone in Blenheim I have realised I have quite a nice group of good friends around me which I tend to neglect at times – sorry guys!!! This will change very soon – promised.

And then there was 22 February 2011, the day the big earthquake hit Christchurch and not only that city but all of the country was shocked. It was really a surreal experience since I was only 300 km away but still not able to do anything, while all the images in the media were about this horrible event. To show how perspective works, a few weeks later the big earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. Yes, we all know we live on the ring of fire and risks are always there. At the moment most people around me are preparing their emergency kits etc. Actually I should start doing something like that myself………

Well, I am sure I have forgotten to tell you a lot – but hey, now it is your turn since I will be pretty quiet for a while. Tomorrow the first grapes will arrive in the winery which means the official start of vintage for us. Bring it on and let it be a good one in 2011!!!

Looking forward to hear from all of you!

Anita

A New Start

After a long time without blog posts I thought it was time to create a weblog again - firstly to be able to stay in contact with friends and family overseas as well as friends more closeby, but also for my own pleasure of having a diary of my life in the end.

The main reason that I start it now after my last post on my other blog in November 2009 is that I have 'finished' some parts of my life and about to start a new 'journey'.

At the end of 2010 I finished my Bachelor Degree in Viticulture and Oenology - the education I started in 2008 and which has taken me on a longer and different journey than I had anticipated. After experiencing great positives but also huge negatives,  I travelled to Holland and entered from the Blenheim summer straight into a white Xmas. The past weeks have been spent with catching up with family and friends in Holland.

Some of the things I have been doing:

• walking through the snow
• xmas dinner with family

• oliebollen at New Year's Eve

• lunches/diners with colleagues from several companies

• wine tasting with my brother
• diving in the North Sea on New Year's Day

• lunches/diners with friends

• visiting wine farmers
• Amstelveen and introduction to the 'Welpies'

• Amsterdam - Van Gogh Museum and Heineken Experience
• Dordrechts Museum with a friend

• Wereldmuseum Rotterdam with my mum

• Full day in the sauna with my sister in law (no picture of this, sorry)
• Dinner with all of my female cousins
• Meeting the partners of my nephews/nieces
• Trying to get in shape in the gym

Well, I should have made much more pictures, but be assured the memories are in my head and better than pictures.

Thank you all for a great time, but I am glad to be back in New Zealand to start my new adventures - of course you are all more than welcome to visit me!!!!

There will be some great wine waiting for the first one........ and for the next as well - no worries.

Love,
Anita